Frustrated by Flights by X Website

[CruiserN1]

This is my 4th cruise on X but first time trying to book travel with Flights by Celebrity. They are offering a lower fare than we can get on our own. I've tried a few times and using different browsers and after typing in all of our info, when I go to complete the booking I get two error messages:

 

The reservation number entered does not belong to the agency. Please verify and try again.

Your credit card has been declined. Please check the information entered and try again.

 

I did book my cruise through a TA, but given the way X keeps emailing me asking me to book FBC, I thought I didn't have to have my TA do it. Also, I've used the same credit card several times elsewhere and it most definitely isn't being declined. 

 

Can anyone help? I am loathe to spend hours on the phone with FBC.

[Arizona Wildcat]

8 minutes ago, CruiserN1 said:

This is my 4th cruise on X but first time trying to book travel with Flights by Celebrity. They are offering a lower fare than we can get on our own. I've tried a few times and using different browsers and after typing in all of our info, when I go to complete the booking I get two error messages:

 

The reservation number entered does not belong to the agency. Please verify and try again.

Your credit card has been declined. Please check the information entered and try again.

 

I did book my cruise through a TA, but given the way X keeps emailing me asking me to book FBC, I thought I didn't have to have my TA do it. Also, I've used the same credit card several times elsewhere and it most definitely isn't being declined. 

 

Can anyone help? I am loathe to spend hours on the phone with FBC.

I have always gone through my TA.  I also unless the savings is significant not used Celebrity Air. The reason is they are sometimes cheaper because they are a consolidator that often sets up group blocks.  This means you might not be ticketed until final payment.

FWIW, I got through to Celebrity in minutes last week regarding airfare.

[CruiserN1]

Thanks @Arizona Wildcat I'm past final payment so that isn't the issue. I guess I'll have to try calling FBC.

[edgee]

Flights by Celebrity can work to cruiser's advantage both by offering a lower fare than generally available, but also because one does not have to pay for tickets until final payment date for cruise AND even after final payment one can cancel with just a $200 pp penalty and get the rest of the fare refunded in cash, not future flight credit. We are using it for 2023 Business Class tickets to Oz...most reassuring in these Covid times knowing that we can get all or nearly all of our airfare back in case we have to cancel.  Their phone service is less than optimal; some conversations can present a language barrier, as nearly all of their staff in their Monterrey Mexico call center speak English language as a second language. We had some challenges with Air New Zealand cancelling flights Flights by Celebrity booked for us due to "non payment" even though payment is not due for several more months....apparently a coding issue. Now our reservation has been reinstated and we have been able to go to the airline's website and pick our seats, but making this happen involved multiple calls and long waits to talk to a Flights by Celebrity agent.

[Salt Lifer]

Save yourself a lot of frustration and spend the money to book elsewhere.

[hrhdhd]

I got the first message last week when trying to book flights that were no longer available. I called and the agent said the flights were gone even though they showed up on the search.

[Virginia100]

I always use Flights by Celebrity as fares are usually lower and the pay at cruise final payment and refund features. But I always book his phone. And this way I always get my seat assignments too. Yes, sometimes the foreign accent can be challenging but it’s always :worked  out well, don’t be turned off!

[cameronp12]

To piggyback on this thread, how long should I expect to wait for the flight to be “ticketed” by American Airlines? I called Celebrity one week ago today and booked the flights to FLL for June and being past pay in full date, paid for the flights on the phone. So shouldn’t American have ticketed them already and I should be able to pick seats? This is my first time using Celebrity for flights…

[CruiserN1]

I ended up calling in to FBC this afternoon. I waited about 10 min for an agent. He was quite chatty and honestly took twice as much time as he needed to in getting our flight booked. I get that he wanted to be friendly and excited, but I just want to get a task checked off my list that would have taken <5 min if their website worked properly.

 

But the end result was that we got the flights at a discount from what United would have charged. The agent assigned our seats also and the reservation is showing in my United account, so all's well that ends well. Though I'd still like them to fix their blasted website.

[Stagger]

I'm torn if I will every use FBC again.  One the one hand they are significantly cheaper the dealing with the airlines directly and on the other using them can be really painful.  Our flights  (Rome outbound and Barcelona return) have been changed many times. First BA then Canada Air and finally American Airlines.  All after final payment.  Interestingly the the outbound flight was ticketed right after final payment and I was able to use the record locator to select desirable seats.  I could not do that on the return flight.  In fact it was change four times - the last time they treated me to a 10 hour layover in Chicago.   I was able to fix that over the phone with FBC cutting the layover by 8 hours by change the return airport from Baltimore (BWI) to Washington (DCA).  Just yesterday I received an e-mail that the return flight on AA was canceled.  I went to the AA site and low and behold - it wasn't canceled - I was.  Called FBC and they said I wasn't canceled and they would call AA. They did and assured me in 48 hours I would get confirmation that my seats we available.  What they did was actually ticket the flight.  I checked using my record locator a few hours later and there I was - back on the flight.  I guess the moral of the story is IF you really like the flights and you're not worried about canceling (maybe you have insurance?) have FBC ticket them as soon as possible.  You will end up with a reasonably priced tickets with limited risk.  I'm tired just thinking about all this. 

[mahdnc]

1 hour ago, Stagger said:

I'm torn if I will every use FBC again.  One the one hand they are significantly cheaper the dealing with the airlines directly and on the other using them can be really painful. 

 

I agree.  We always booked our flights directly with the airlines and for our international cruises, we have been fortunate to use frequent flyer miles--so again directly with the airlines.

 

We just booked a TA for this coming October and I decided to use FBC here for the well known advantages of price and delayed payment.  Everything seemed great when I booked the flights online--including submitting my email address, freq flyer acct numbers, and KTN for my wife and I.

 

Afterwards, I never got a confirmation email and I didn't see the reservation on our account on United's website.  So yesterday, I called FBC--waited about 45 min on hold--to have them email the reservation to me so I could have the confirmation and the record locator for our tickets.  

 

When I got the email, I noticed that the reason that I couldn't see the reservation on United's website was because our freq flyer numbers were not attached to the reservation.  So I called FBC this morning from work--waited about an hour on hold--and I explained the problem and the agent entered our freq flyer information as I asked.  Before I hung up, I saw that both flights were visible on line thru my freq flyer account so it all looked good.  Right after I hung up, I checked my wife's freq flyer account and I could only see the outbound flight but not the return flight.  Grrrrr.

 

So this afternoon after I got home from work, I called FBC for a third time--this time I was on hold for about 45 min--and the agent was able to get my wife's freq flyer number properly attached to her return flight.  

 

I am also a bit exhausted.

[Itsnevertoolate]

Customer service at FBC is definitely lacking. They booked my return flight to an entirely different state!  After 3 1/2 hours on the phone, it was corrected, but now we return the day AFTER our cruise ends.  So frustrated.

[Lastdance]

I hear your frustration.  We finally canceled our flights with them and booked our own, as biz class prices went down for a day for Polaris.  They have too many newbies working, along with their contract with Celebrity making any upgrade for cabins or seats impossible.  We just paid and moved on, knowing that if our cruise is canceled or we contact Covid, our $$$ can be used for next year's flights.

[dgoz]

I just had the same issue as the OP. I called 2 times with questions and they answered right away. I thought the customer service was pretty good. I will admit that I had to listen very closely to understand the accent of the agent.